Ubiquitous and covering large areas, especially in sandy, acidic soils in the sun or light shade, with its ternate leaves from long-creeping rhizomes.

This is a complex, essentially cosmopolitan species, often divided into varieties, in which case our plants are apparently all var. latiusculum (Desvaux) A. Heller. Some plants, especially from the western upper Peninsula, are quite pubescent, but seem similar otherwise to essentially glabrous plants.

The fiddleheads of this species contain the carcinogenic terpene ptaquiloside and should not be eaten.